Posted: March 3rd, 2020

price war/ porter’s 5 forces essay

Online assignment help tutors – Discussion Question #1:
A condition that appears under each of Porter’s 5 forces is something called switching costs. These are the one-time costs that a purchaser incurs when changing suppliers. These costs can be substantial, which is why suppliers work to develop a variety of these expenses to prevent their customers from switching to a competitor. “Costs” would include out-of-pocket payments, as well as time and effort.
When trying to identify the various types of switching costs that an organization would likely incur, it can be useful to think of our own situation. For example, consider all the many costs that you would have if you changed your smartphone, such as from a Samsung Galaxy to an iPhone, or Google Pixel. This should provide some ideas of the generic categories of “costs” that would also be found in an organization.
Now list and briefly explain as many switching costs as you can – please ensure that you explain them from the perspective of an organization not you as an individual. If it helps, consider the following scenarios:
• Upgrade by SFU from WebCT to CANVAS that happened last year for hosting all online classrooms
• Changing a fleet of delivery vehicles from a gas-powered Detroit-based car manufacturer to electric-powered car made outside of North America

Requirement:
Ace my homework – Write a post 130/190 words.
————————————————————————————————————
Online assignment help tutors – Discussion Question #2:

When we think about situations where competition is high, we often will focus on price. However, in a price war, the only “winners” are the customers. There are situations where lowering prices are warranted, but most organizations employ a range of other strategies to compete effectively.
The question is: what non-price based competitive weapons are commonly used?
For your response, you are asked to identify and explain with 1 clear example of a strategy/tactic used by one organization that would be see as a competitive response or threat by another company in that same industry – that is not related to changing prices. You can be very specific and use company names.
Read the responses of your DG colleagues before you post, so that you can offer a different scenario. Each person must describe a different non-price based competitive weapon and example. Therefore, there is an advantage to those who post early. After you make your initial post, please make 3 reply posts. For your replies, offer an different example to the non-price based weapon described.

Requirements:
1-Ace my homework – Write 3 replies on three posts from the same group discussion (my group members’ posts are attracted below)
2-Ace my homework – Write a post between 150/200 words about the discussion question 2.

Group members’ posts (Chose three to reply on):

Person #1:
Some businesses give out free gifts or gift cars upon purchase. I think it is a good way to attract customers without lowering their prices. Consumers are automatically showing interest in businesses with any type of “free” deal. For that reason, a lot of businesses offer deals such as buy 2, get one free. There are also a lot of businesses that don’t need to do any changes to their prices since they don’t have very strong competition. The main reason why those companies do not need to go into a price war is that they are very well branded and usually control the market so that other companies try to lower their costs and offer promotions to compete with them. Some examples would be Airbnb in the rental field, Nike in athletic apparel, and Tesla in electric vehicles.

Person #2:
When considering competitive weapons that are independent of price, the first example that comes to mind is the use of a robust return policy, as demonstrated by Costco.
Costco accepts the return of almost any product, after almost any amount of time has elapsed – with the exception of electronics which allow 90-day returns, and cigarettes and alcohol as restricted by law (as per Costco’s customer service page (Links to an external site.) ). This gives members a heightened sense of security in their purchases, as they know they can rely on the tried-and-true customer service team to accept a return if needed. While this feature does not affect the price of an item, it gives Costco the competitive advantage in many cases because when faced with a choice between a $100 product with a limited return policy and a $100 product with a rock-solid return policy, many consumers would choose the latter.

Person #3:
McDonalds is a company that is known for its affordable prices. However, in the fast-food industry, McDonalds is far from the only corporation that has affordable pricing that appeals to a wide variety of customers. In order to have a competitive edge over its competitors, McDonalds often uses non-price based competitive weapons to appeal to its customers and have them choose their products over their competitors. McDonalds uses its advertising as its biggest non-price-based weapon by marketing the sustainable sourcing of their ingredients. An example of this can be seen when McDonalds first began advertising their coffee beans as being “fair trade” and to have had the “Rainforest Alliance Group’s” certification. This garnered the attention of customers to elect to purchase McDonalds already widely popular coffee as opposed to its competitors because of the appealing ethical integrity of the sourcing of their coffee beans. McDonalds “fair trade” advertisement is an example of a non-priced based competitive weapon used effectively against its competitors and exemplified the powerful strategy of marketing.

Person #4:
After reading this discussion question, Lululemon was the first company that instantly came to mind. Any Lululemon shopper knows that this company truly does the most when it comes to non-price based competitive weapons. Although Hanna already discussed the return policy in her response, I felt as though mentioning it in my discussion post was also needed as Lululemon’s return policy differs from Costco’s. What makes Lululemon’s return policy so special and noteworthy is that if anything were to go wrong with an item purchased at the store, such as a snag in an item, an item stretching out, or an item just not fitting right anymore, then Lululemon will allow you to return or exchange it at any point in time. Regardless of how long you have had the item for, Lululemon will take it back and exchange it for a new item in the store. This is such a powerful weapon because Lululemon is not cheap, and accidents happen with clothing items, and people’s bodies change, which is why their return policy is so desirable for so many people. Another thing that Lululemon uses to their advantage are random acts of kindness. By this, I am referring to how each Lululemon store is given the opportunity and power of being able to surprise customers with random acts of kindness if they feel as though they deserve it. For example, if someone were to be having a very obvious bad day, if someone were to overcome a huge obstacle or reach a specific goal, or if someone was going through a rough patch, then Lululemon employees are authorized to give that customer a free item from the store. Lululemon also hosts free yoga in many of their stores for their community to enjoy! It is the little things in life that people are drawn to, and Lululemon does an excellent job at implementing non-price based competitive weapons in little ways each and every day.

Order | Check Discount